


Dangan Ronpa: Killing School Death Life

by AppetiteOfAPeoplePleaser



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Blood and Injury, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Mild Gore, Resurrection, Reunions, Scars, Trauma, everyone lives at the beginning at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-08 14:59:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppetiteOfAPeoplePleaser/pseuds/AppetiteOfAPeoplePleaser
Summary: After their apparent deaths, the murdered victims from DR1 wake up to find themselves to be very much alive. Monokuma soon explains the how and why, leaving the resurrected students to face a possible second death at the hands of their classmates. Of course, nobody wants that, but is it really possible to escape Monokuma’s “afterlife”? And what does he mean by, “more students will be transferring in during the semester”?





	1. Empty Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Aoapp starting a NEW dangan ronpa series? Unpossible!
> 
> “How can I get an excuse to write about nagito and kokichi but also have plot” - me
> 
> “Oh right just unkill everyone” - me, later
> 
> Writing all these characters is going to s u c c but at least they’re not dead anymore!
> 
> EDIT: I decided to add more to chapter 1 so it fit better with the summary. If you read this chapter earlier, you might want to go back and look at those extra 1,000 words. Sorry for the inconvenience!

At first, Sayaka thought that the cold floor below her was, in fact, Makoto’s bathroom. It would make sense, considering she had suffered a fatal stab wound on the floor there. She must be dying; so weak that she couldn’t even keep her eyes open. Makoto... At least he wouldn’t be suspected. Leon’s name, written in blood, would surely point the finger at the actual culprit.

There was nothing more to do now. Sayaka was ready to die.

But.

This didn’t feel right. Sayaka’s sixth sense was telling her that she wasn’t dying. It was rarely wrong, but how could that be? She didn’t know much about bodies, but she knew that kind of stab wound meant unavoidable death.

Still, if she was dying... why didn’t she feel any pain?

With all her might, Sayaka cracked one eye open.

And jolted at what she saw. She was... Where was she? Not only was this definitely _not_ Makoto’s bathroom, but it didn’t look like any room in the school. The dim, fluorescent orange lights illuminated a small room with what appeared to be metal cabinets along the wall.

Perhaps this was where Monokuma took students after they had died? Maybe her wound was so serious that the bear had declared her dead and taken her away. Was she about to die, then? Was she so fatigued that she couldn’t even feel that intense pain anymore? It was a blessing, but if she was going to die anyway, wasn’t it simply cruel to allow her to wake, to experience one last miserable glimpse of life before putting her out of her misery?

Nervously, Sayaka dared to look down, needing to confirm it, to see her blood flowing away before the end. Because she’d rather see it happen than try to look away. There’d been many times in Sayaka’s life where she had failed to act out of indecision. Her last moments could not be shaky. She owed that to herself, to Makoto, to her friends, to her family.

She opened her eyes fully, looking down at her stomach.

But there was nothing there but the smooth fabric of her uniform.

Sayaka blinked, once, twice, wondering if she was hallucinating. After all, she had been stabbed! She had seen Leon come at her with the knife, watched as it plunged into her abdomen, felt pain that was too horrible to even try to remember. There was no mistaking that!

So why? Why couldn’t she see the huge, bloody mess that she had glimpsed before slumping against the bathroom wall?

Slowly, her muscles sluggish and weak, Sayaka rolled onto her back. The orange lights glared back at her, but she focused on herself. On how she was supposed to be dead. Almost violently, she pulled up the hem of her shirt, exposing her pale midriff to the light.

Just a scar.

A large, bumpy, ugly scar that spanned several inches, yes, but it wasn’t a wound. Nor was it a recent scar; it was faded enough that the coloration was barely noticeable. Sayaka prodded the raised strip of skin, but found no sign of an injury. She was... healed.

Giddy disbelief made its way through Sayaka’s body. She refused to second-guess that she had been stabbed—the scar just about proved it, anyway—but, miraculously, she had somehow been brought back from the very brink of death. She was alive! And maybe not in the School Life of Mutual Killing anymore! After all, what reason would Monokuma have to stop Leon from killing? He had given out the motives to encourage just that. And she doubted any of her classmates had the surgical skill to repair a wound of that size. She wouldn’t even know where to start.

Therefore, the only logical conclusion was that someone from the outside had saved her. And that meant that, probably, they had all been rescued.

Sayaka breathed out, letting her shirt fall back into place. She felt... light, as if all her worries from the past few days had been lifted off her shoulders. Of course the outside world wouldn’t let sixteen of their most talented youth be forced to kill each other in a school. And they’d been rescued just in the nick of time, it seemed. Sayaka laughed, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in... heck, it had been weeks since her last performance. Everything was okay. Everyone was safe. And she could go find her idol group, make sure they were safe. And Makoto... She had something to tell him, too.

Sayaka pushed herself up from the floor, noting that her previously-broken wrist was now completely fine, and stood, brushing bits of dust off her uniform and smoothing down her hair. A white door stood across from the metal cabinets, and Sayaka started towards it. Their saviors were surely outside, somewhere.

CREAK.

Sayaka jumped, twisting herself around to look backwards, searching for the source of that eerie noise. A cabinet. One of the cabinets had swung slightly open. It had to just be a... faulty lock or something, right? Still, Sayaka’s intuition pricked her, warningly. So she kept watching.

Another few seconds passed, then a louder and longer creak sounded out as the cabinet door swung open the rest of the way. There was something inside. Something large. Sayaka stepped back, shuddering, images of skeletons and zombies jumping up from scary movies she’d watched as a child. The thing moved... and then it fell out of the cabinet, sprawling limply on the floor.

The lights in the room were dim, but that didn’t stop Sayaka from instantly recognizing the prone figure. Or her intuition from downright stabbing her in the head.

“Chi... Chihiro??”

Sayaka ran to the smaller girl’s side and dropped onto her knees, turning Chihiro’s body over to face up. Chihiro’s eyes were closed, but as Sayaka watched, her eyelids twitched and she took a shallow breath. “Chihiro?”

Chihiro opened her eyes. She looked dazed, but unharmed. Then her pupils shrank as they zeroed in on Sayaka’s face. “Sayaka...?”

“We’re in a strange room, if that’s what you’re thinking,” said Sayaka, using her intuition to hopefully answer Chihiro’s question. “I’m not sure where, but I think we’re safe.”

But Chihiro didn’t react. “Sayaka...?” she repeated, blinking slowly. “I don’t... I don’t understand.”

Sayaka frowned, idly pushing back a lock of deep blue hair. “Understand what?”

“Leon killed you...” Chihiro whispered. “...And we killed him.”

Sayaka jerked back. “You killed him?!”

Chihiro winced, sitting up on her elbows. “We voted for him in the class trial... Monokuma said we would all die if we didn’t... We should have saved him.”

“But why did you vote for him??” Sayaka was perplexed. “I never died! Didn’t we get rescued and then someone saved me?”

Chihiro paused, then shook her head slowly, her expression almost pitying. “I didn’t see the crime scene... But the others did. They said you were dead. Nobody rescued us... We kept living our school lives.”

Sayaka collapsed back on her legs, feeling shaken. “W-What? That’s not possible... I didn’t die. I’m still alive, obviously!” It wasn’t possible, right? Chihiro was mistaken, or maybe the others were confused, or Monokuma stole her body before they could see it for themselves. Somehow, she had survived the stab wound, otherwise she wouldn’t be here. She wasn’t a ghost either; her body was solid and completely human-looking.

Chihiro splayed her hand across her face, looking thoughtful. “O-oh... I must be dreaming. I’m sorry, it’s just that...” The smaller girl trailed off, hand falling from her face as she turned pale. “W-wait...”

Sayaka was having a bit of an identity crisis, but she forced herself to focus on poor Chihiro. “Are you all right? What is it?”

Chihiro’s arms gave out and she collapsed back on the floor, shoulders shaking as she clasped her hands together. “M-Mondo... Why did he...”

Sayaka struggled over and propped Chihiro up in a sitting position. “It’s okay. Tell me what happened.”

Tears started spilling down Chihiro’s cheeks as she spoke, staring blankly ahead. “Weak... I’m so weak... I wanted to get stronger... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said I admired you...”

“Chihiro?” Sayaka had no idea what had happened to Chihiro, but it was clearly upsetting her. “What did Mondo do?” She knew very little about Mondo. Maybe he had broken Chihiro’s heart?

Chihiro took a deep breath. “I-I saw him attack me with one of the weights...”

Sayaka frowned. “Why did he do that?” Because the frail Chihiro was an easy target? What a cowardly tactic.

Then again, Sayaka had taken advantage of someone too.

“It must be because... I said I admired him. Being praised by someone so weak was probably insulting...” Chihiro hung her head.

Why did Chihiro admire Mondo? Sayaka hadn’t really seen them having much in common, but first impressions could be wrong. “That’s not a good reason to attack someone!” Sayaka was at a bit of a loss as to why being admired would lead Mondo to hurt Chihiro, but at the moment, she didn’t have any other ideas. “Then what happened?”

“Well... then I woke up in here... He must have struck me in the head, and now I’m dreaming.” Chihiro sighed. “I’ll have to work out and get stronger by myself, then... When I wake up...”

“I’m not part of a dream, I’m real,” Sayaka insisted. An idea popped into her head, and she reached for Chihiro’s face. “Wait... Hold still for a moment.” Chihiro obeyed, clasping her hands as Sayaka crawled to the smaller girl’s side. She gently brushed Chihiro’s hair aside, examining the back of her head until she found what she was looking for. A dark indentation on Chihiro’s scalp, about three inches in diameter. “Is this where Mondo hit you?”

Chihiro’s fingers timidly felt below Sayaka’s hand. “Yes... I think so... That’s where I saw him swing the weight.”

Sayaka returned in front of Chihiro and sat down, pulling up the edge of her own shirt. Chihiro blushed oddly, then her eyes widened as she saw the remains of Sayaka’s knife wound. “A scar...?”

“Where Leon stabbed me,” agreed Sayaka. “Someone stitched it up before I died. They must have cared for your head too; there’s no bruising or blood on your scalp.”

Chihiro touched the back of her head, frowning. “I don’t want to believe you are only a dream... But everyone else saw your body... There’s no way that even someone strong could survive that.”

Sayaka thought hard. “Maybe we were rescued right after we were seriously injured.”

Chihiro considered it. “Then why wasn’t Junko saved?” she finally asked.

“Junko?” Sayaka recalled the freckled fashionista with an incredibly bright personality. “She was attacked?”

“She tried to fight Monokuma... He killed her by running her through with spears...” Chihiro looked back at Sayaka. “I saw her body... She was dead.” Her tone was completely certain.

Why save Sayaka and Chihiro, but not Junko? “Maybe her death was too fast for them to help her?” she suggested.

Chihiro puffed out her cheek as she thought. “By all accounts, you would have bled out in less than thirty seconds after being attacked... That couldn’t be enough time for a rescue...”

Sayaka bit her lip. “I don’t know how I’m alive; it’s just a theory. But I know I’m not part of a dream, you know?”

Chihiro smiled slightly. “I suppose it’s possible... Anything can happen here, I think.” She stood up and timidly looked around.

“I was just about to go through that door when you fell out of the cabinet!” offered Sayaka, trying to infuse some cheer into Chihiro’s wane face.

“The cabinet?” Chihiro turned and noticed the open cabinet door for the first time. “Were you also inside one, Sayaka?”

Sayaka frowned, realizing that she didn’t know. “I don’t remember. I woke up on the floor.”

“Then it’s likely that you fell out as well...” Chihiro walked to the next cabinet and opened it. Empty. She crossed to the next unopened cabinet and timidly tried the handle. Click, click, click. “Hmm... this one is locked.” Chihiro went silent, apparently in deep thought. Sayaka walked over and tried the other two cabinets in the room, finding them locked as well. She turned to Chihiro, who was still lost in thought.

A loud bang suddenly sounded from inside the locker before Chihiro. She jumped back, screamed, and nearly lost her balance. Sayaka backed away from the locker as well, unsure of who or what was in there.

However, her question was soon answered, as the door suddenly swung open and a figure fell out. However, they quickly got to their feet, assumed a ramrod straight posture, pointed right at Chihiro, and shouted loudly, “Hifumi! Carrying a hammer of that size is against school regulations! I will not be so lenient next time, you... stealer of my bro!”

Chihiro shrunk back, but Sayaka stepped forward, relieved. “Kiyotaka!”

Kiyotaka snapped his head over to look at Sayaka, then nearly fell over. “Sayaka?” His head swiveled wildly the other direction, spotting Chihiro. “Chihiro?!”

Sayaka held up her hands. “Calm down, Taka! I can explain everything, er, well, try to.”

But before Sayaka could say anything, a blurred figure appeared out of nowhere and spun to land in front of the stunned classmates. Sayaka recognized it instantly. Monokuma.

If Monokuma was here, that didn’t bode well for them.

“Welcome to Hope’s Peak Academy,” proclaimed the bear, “where you’ll be living together in...” He trailed off. “Oh wait... Wrong speech.” Sayaka looked on, brow furrowed, as Monokuma made an entire performance out of trying to think. “Ah ha! I’m not supposed to tell you where you are at all! It’s a surprise! As for me, I’m your new headmaster, Monokuma!” He cocked his head at them, his half-smile widening. “But, you already know who I am, so this introduction is rather pointless.” His expression turned angry. “You don’t even have to get to know each other! This plot has ZERO drama! Whatever happened to memory loss and starting friendships at the beginning of the killing game?? Kids these days have no taste!”

But Sayaka had stopped listening to his last sentence. “Killing game...?” she repeated slowly.

“Wazzat?” Monokuma put his paws over his mouth and giggled. “Don’t tell me you forgot about it already, Sayaka! I tried so hard to make it memorable for you. Puhuhuhu!”

Chihiro ignored Monokuma, turning to Sayaka instead. “We’re... still in the killing game? Is that what he means...?”

“Don’t ignore your headmaster!” Monokuma protested in the background.

“Impossible!” Kiyotaka interjected. “As Sayaka and Chihiro are now present, this must be but a convincing hallucination!”

“It’s not a hallucination!” yelled Monokuma, waving his paws. “Monokuma doesn’t resort to cheap tricks like that!”

“But I’m alive, someone must have saved me!” Sayaka reflexively felt for the huge scar on her stomach. It was still there. “If this is still the killing game, then why wasn’t I killed? This doesn’t make sense!” Her head swam. Was Monokuma lying? As far as she knew, the bear was trustworthy, in that he’d speak with brutal honesty, but Sayaka was reluctant to believe Monokuma over her own conclusions. Why would she have been saved and then put back into the killing game?

Monokuma growled. “No appreciation for your loving headmaster! I’m disappointed in you all!” He sighed, as sadly as a robot bear could manage. “I put all that work into saving you... and you don’t even care...”

“You... saved us?” Chihiro glanced to the side, deep in thought. “Why?”

The bear threw up his hands. “Because, as much as I love a good murder, it’s simply a waste to kill off so many popular characters! Geez! It’s more entertaining when it’s someone you know and love who suffers a horrible death!”

Sayaka tried to piece all this together in her head, but Chihiro figured it out first. “So you’re... reusing those who should have died in the first game?”

Monokuma grinned. “Ahh, nope! Not quite! Of course I didn’t save any of the blackened students! Not only were they cold-blooded killers, but it would have ruined the fun of the execution! Ahahaha!” His laughter trailed off slowly. “But, you spotless victims are okay, so I’m gonna give you a second chance to kill someone and escape!” He shook his white paw. “But make it count this time! I’m not bringing you back if you get yourself murdered again!”

“We shall not murder anyone!” exclaimed Kiyotaka. “We are friends!”

Monokuma sighed and waved a hand. “Yea, yea... You kids say that every time.” His red eye glowed dangerously as he whispered, “But what if you aren’t as close to them as you think? Can you really trust them not to take advantage of your friendship?” His whispering abruptly ended as he shouted, “Remember, death is permanent this time! Ahahahaha!”

Sayaka exchanged glances with the other two in the room, trying to encourage Chihiro and Taka with a strong expression. Neither of them looked too panicked, so that was a good sign. Everyone would get through this together. Sayaka refused to let Monokuma sway her again.

She wanted to see her bandmates, of course. But as she had laid dying on Makoto’s bathroom floor, she had realized it was never worth it. This was her second chance, one she never thought she’d get to have.

Sayaka was brought back to reality by Chihiro’s voice. “There are only three of us... A class trial wouldn’t even be possible, so there’s no incentive to kill.” Chihiro frowned, watching Monokuma warily. “But I can’t imagine this is everything...”

“Nope!” cheered Monokuma. “There may be only three of you right nooow, but rest assured, that will soon be fixed! After all, you guys didn’t think you were the only victims of the killing game, did you?”

Kiyotaka gasped in horror. “My absence as the Ultimate Moral Compass must have led to our classmates’ downfall! Oh, if only I had confiscated all the hammers...” He shed a brief tear. “But! Never fear, now that I am leading you all, murder will become a thing of the past! I shall not allow anyone to deviate from a good and moral code!” He pointed straight at Monokuma to emphasize his point.

Monokuma stared at Kiyotaka for a moment. “Aaaaaanyway... More students will be transferring in during the semester, so never fear! You’ll have plenty of victims to choose from when plotting out your murder plans! Puhuhuhu!” With that unsettling statement, Monokuma bounced out of the room.

Now that the bear had left, Sayaka was quick to encourage everyone. “Don’t worry! We just need to work together, and nothing Monokuma can say will be able to sway us.”

“You attempted to murder Leon!” interjected Kiyotaka bluntly. “It seems your frail mind was already swayed by him and his motives! Never fear; I will do a better job of keeping you on the path of goodness! But this must not happen again!”

Sayaka, sweating slightly, nodded along as Kiyotaka spoke. “It won’t happen again. I realized that—“ A loud clang cut her off, and all three of them spun around to see a huge dent in one of the cabinets. A second later, Sakura punched the door open and clambered out of the too-small space. She looked around, blinking at the three of them. Sayaka noted a deep purple bruise or mark that started at Sakura’s neck and continued down beneath her uniform.

“Sakura? You died?” Sayaka hadn’t expected the Ultimate Martial Artist to fall in the killing game. It didn’t seem like it would be easy to outclass her, wasn’t she the best in the world?

“Hmm. It seems this is the afterlife,” Sakura ground out. “I expected... differently.”


	2. If You Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The classmates go exploring, and Chihiro makes a positive change in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope nobody minds that I'm writing Kiyotaka a bit more funny/eccentric than he actually was in-game. Without Yasuhiro I don't know what to do for comic relief :(
> 
> ALSO: I decided to add more to chapter 1 so it fit better with the summary. If you read that chapter earlier, you might want to go back and look at those extra 1,000 words. Sorry for the inconvenience!

It took some time to explain the situation to Sakura, and to some extent, Kiyotaka. Chihiro was happy to let Sayaka do most of the talking. It wasn’t like Sakura was a stranger, but Chihiro didn’t know her that well, and he often felt shy when trying to explain something complicated. Kiyotaka was loud and sometimes overly aggressive, so he didn’t envy her that job either. It was better for him to do what he was good at. And as Chihiro had no access to a computer right now, he had to do the next best thing... think.

None of this made sense in a logical way. As Sayaka examined Kiyotaka’s head, finding a hard indentation much like Chihiro’s own, and Sakura explained how she had witnessed each of them dead, it seemed more and more impossible from a realistic point of view. But, Chihiro reminded himself, this place wasn’t realistic. Everything in this place was fantastical, almost cliche.

So, even though past Chihiro would have never thought seriously about being saved or resurrected, it was definitely a possibility here. The facts seemed to add up to it. The scars and marks where each of them had supposedly died, that everyone there seemed just the same as he had known them, and the fact that Chihiro had pinched himself enough times to bruise and had not woken up. If this was really a hallucination brought on by being struck in the head with a weight... then it was the realest dream he’d ever had.

But if this was reality, where did that leave them?

“You’re a boy??” Chihiro tuned back in to see Sayaka gaping at him, looking down at his girls’ uniform and back up to his face. Ahh... Sakura looked apologetic, and Kiyotaka was still talking about the details of Chihiro’s case. Honestly, Chihiro felt anxious. He had planned to come out to everyone once he became as strong as a normal boy, but it seemed that his secret wasn’t a secret anymore. Well, since he had died according to Sakura and Kiyotaka, it was no surprise that he’d been found in the boys’ locker room, which would have made his actual gender painfully apparent...

But... Part of not being weak was being able to admit things to others, right? He couldn’t become the person he wanted to if he couldn’t accept being a boy. So Chihiro breathed deeply and agreed, “Y-Yea... I’m a boy.”

Sayaka looked perplexed. “...Then why do you dress like a cute girl?”

He blushed and reflexively looked at the floor. “S-Sorry... I’ve always been insecure about being so weak... Everyone said I wasn’t as strong as a boy should be, so I started pretending I was a girl... I’m sorry, I should have told you all before, but I wanted to get stronger first, so nobody would look down on me, I guess...”

Sakura spoke gently. “Gender does not imply strength, or the absence of it. Many told me that I was stronger than a woman should be. They were wrong.”

Sayaka nodded along. “Mhm! You don’t have to be strong just because you’re a boy.”

“Having physical strength is not a requirement for following a moral code!” said Kiyotaka, jabbing a finger upwards.

Chihiro wasn’t sure that following a moral code was the biggest of his problems right now, but he appreciated the effort. More importantly, Chihiro realized it had never occurred to him that Sakura was also defying the stereotypes of her gender in a big way. That was inattentive of him. Perhaps he would have accepted Sakura’s invitation to train with her and Aoi if he had thought of it that way... “You’re all correct, of course...” Chihiro wrung his hands. “I should have tried to... make a change earlier...”

“But now you can become who you want to be! It’s better late than never.” Sayaka gave her famous gentle and friendly smile. “That’s what you were thinking, right?”

It hadn’t been exactly what Chihiro was thinking, but it was a better idea than becoming trapped in self-pity. “Yea... thank you...” Chihiro hesitated. “I... I’ll do my best to not be ashamed of being a boy anymore!” His classmates grinned and nodded, Kiyotaka giving him a big thumbs-up. Chihiro smiled sheepishly at the others. “B-But I’d also... like to get stronger, just so I can do more things that I want to do.”

“If we should find another equipment room, I would be happy to show you a basic training regime,” Sakura offered.

Kiyotaka suddenly looked even more excited. “We’ll do it together! Mandatory training at the crack of dawn!”

“Wait, I like sleeping in!”

Chihiro giggled slightly, clasping his hands as Sayaka whined and Kiyotaka started off on a tangent about the health benefits of getting up early.

“That last cabinet remains closed,” remarked Sakura, drawing Chihiro’s attention to the eerie back of the room. “Should I attempt to open it?” After receiving a nod from Chihiro, the wild-haired woman marched to the final, fifth cabinet, and tried the handle. Click, click, click. It wasn’t that surprising, considering that Kiyotaka and Sakura’s cabinets had been locked for some time, but he couldn’t help but wonder who was inside. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Junko was dead. Who else was attacked after Sakura?

Sakura interrupted Sayaka’s argument with Kiyotaka. “Perhaps we should see if that white door leads anywhere useful.”

“Monokuma did say it was a killing game, so there’s probably somewhere for us to live out there.” Sayaka cautiously tried the handle, and the large door swung open, letting sharp green light filter into the room and mix with the orange. Chihiro stood on his tiptoes to peer past Sayaka at their surroundings, but there wasn’t much to see besides an adjacent door and a wide hallway, continuing to their right. Slowly, the four classmates went through the door and looked around.

The hall was lit with long green light fixtures, blasting their light so brightly that Chihiro’s eyes felt strained. To their immediate left was a door identical to their own, albeit with a metal sign mounted at eye level. Chihiro’s sharp eyes instantly figured out what it said, although he hadn’t the slightest clue what it meant. It wasn’t any acronym or term that he was familiar with, and he knew many more than the average person. Still, it was possible one of his classmates knew what it meant...

“S D R 2?” Sayaka read the plate out loud, then read it again, “Does anyone know what that is?”

Silence from the rest of the group ensued, until Sakura broke the silence, although not with a solution. “Look at this door.” Chihiro turned to look at the back of the door they had exited from. A similar plate was displayed. “D R 1.”

“What’s D R mean?” mused Sayaka. “It’s been on both plates, so it must be important.”

“Doctor?” suggested Kiyotaka.

Sakura grunted. “I don’t think so.”

Chihiro was inclined to agree, but he filed the theory away, just in case. He turned around to examine the two doors on the other side of the hallway. Unsurprisingly, each door had a sign on it. Chihiro quickly read the letters and numbers, but found that neither plate made more sense than any of the others. “DRV3” on the left door, and “DRAF4” on the right door.

Sayaka’s earlier statement about the letters DR being important seemed correct, but Chihiro didn’t know how they were connected. He searched for a clue in the pattern of the letters and numbers, but he could only find one more similarity: that a number always occurred sometime after DR. Perhaps, whatever DR was, this was Monokuma’s strange way of organizing it? He didn’t have a clue what the other letters meant, though. Or maybe it was some sort of barcode... Chihiro didn’t know.

This trail of thought probably wasn’t worth pursuing right now... They should explore the area instead. Chihiro turned back to his classmates, noticing for the first time that they were all looking at him. A blush colored his cheeks. “Um... We should explore now, right?” He looked to Sayaka for help.

Sayaka jumped onto the idea. “Of course! Let’s look around.” She started off down the hallway, Kiyotaka marching military-style after her. Chihiro and Sakura followed with a more normal gait, soon losing sight of their more boisterous classmates. Chihiro was somewhat concerned, but it wouldn’t make sense for Monokuma to put anything dangerous in here yet, right?

As if confirming his worst fears, an inhuman shriek sounded out from down the hallway. Chihiro and Sakura took off, the former noting as he ran that the hallway was now curving slightly to the right. Kiyotaka appeared, screamed again, and flattened himself against the wall, still as straight as an antenna. Sakura attempted to talk to him, but Kiyotaka had gone completely non-verbal.

Confused, Chihiro kept going until he saw Sayaka. She was standing against a huge window built into the outer edge of the hallway, palms and nose pressed against the glass. Chihiro looked through it and immediately understood Kiyotaka’s panic. He didn’t feel very settled about it either.

They were inside a tower. A very, very tall tower that stood higher than the cloud layer. Far above their heads, Chihiro swore he could see the beginnings of space as the atmosphere fell away from the earth. Looking down, there was nothing he could see past the wispy shapes that folded into fluffy white cirrus clouds and became a solid wall of whiteness.And there was nothing to see in the distance besides an empty expanse of sky.

Assuming Chihiro could believe his eyes, escape from here would not be trivial.

“But they must have got us up here somehow, so there has to be a way in and out.” Sayaka turned to Chihiro with a giggle. “Was I right?”

Chihiro blushed and nodded sheepishly, wondering if Sayaka perhaps wasn’t kidding about her psychic abilities. “That’s correct, but...” Positive thoughts. “We’ll just have to look around until we find it.”

Sayaka nodded, and Chihiro turned from the window to go check on Kiyotaka.

Kiyotaka had calmed substantially by the time Chihiro got back to where he and Sakura were standing. Apparently, “he had a mild fear of heights.” Chihiro was far too polite to say anything about that. “Should we keep looking around?” he suggested, trying to divert Kiyotaka’s attention away from the horror he’d witnessed outside.

“Yes! Let us continue!” Kiyotaka strode broadly past Chihiro, keeping his faced turned far away from the window and the outside world.

Sakura stayed behind to look out the window for herself, so Chihiro, Sayaka, and Kiyotaka continued down the curved hallway. The hall curved more sharply as they walked, until the three finally emerged into a small, donut-shaped room. Sayaka and Kiyotaka gasped collectively as they looked around, but the first thing Chihiro noticed was the metal ladder that the room gave a wide berth to. It was as if the room has simply been built around the ladder, like a tree that one was afraid to cut down. There was a cut-out space for the ladder, both at the ceiling and at the floor, that appeared to have been replaced with green glass.

Chihiro couldn’t see through the patterned glass very well, but it looked like the ladder continued above and below from the glass cut-outs. Was this the travel method Monokuma expected them to use when traveling between floors? He wondered why the bear hadn’t just installed an elevator. Climbing ladders would not be trivial for his weak body... Well, he was going to get stronger, anyway, so maybe it didn’t matter.

Kiyotaka, after staring at the ladder for an abnormal amount of time, turned around, and departed through a different door.

“A ladder?” Sayaka glanced up into the glassy reflection above the ladder, then turned to follow Kiyotaka’s retreat with her eyes. “Oh! Restrooms!” Chihiro looked and saw two doors with male and female symbols on them, near-identical to the ones at Hope’s Peak. The men’s room door was still swinging shut. He realized that he would finally be able to use the men’s room now, and that cheered him up just a bit. Sayaka giggled. “Well, it’s good to know these are here.” She stepped past the bathrooms to look at the door to their left. “Oh!” She ran to the door and gazed at it. “This is—“

An annoying sound played as Monokuma spun into the room. “Yeeep! It’s your lucky day!” Sayaka turned to Monokuma with an annoyed look, but said nothing. The bear clasped his paws and began to ramble cheerfully. “It’s because of an idea we got in one of the other killing games! Every one of you lovely students will get your very own...” He paused dramatically. “Ultimate Laaaab!”

A lab? Would Chihiro’s have computers in it? If so, that might lead to an avenue of escape, or at the very least, a way to contact the outside.

Monokuma kept talking about the new rooms. “Each of your labs will contain items that will help you cultivate your talent! For example... Sayaka! Since you’re the generic female protagonist here, your lab will be one of the first to open up! Take a look-see!” Monokuma gestured to the door behind Sayaka, which was painted with shooting stars and a microphone.

Sayaka furrowed her brow, but she turned and opened the door at the bear’s request. Chihiro tiptoed over to look inside, curious. He knew Sayaka was the Ultimate Pop Sensation, but what kind of items would help her cultivate that talent?

Sayaka gasped as the room’s lights turned on. The area... definitely reminded Chihiro of a concert hall. The wallpaper was a spendid shade of black that reminded Chihiro of an enless void. A great stage was placed at the far end of the room, lit by spotlights that intersected to create varying colors across the floor. Closer to the door, there were several rows of neatly organized items: speakers, microphones, a rack with several gorgeous dresses hanging on it, and a big box of glowsticks. Sayaka stepped forward, as if in a trace. “It’s just like...” The blue-haired girl trailed off as Chihiro and Monokuma turned to her, quizzically. “So we’re supposed to improve our talents with this?” she asked, gaze flickering around the room, then back to the monochrome bear.

“Yeeeeep!” confirmed Monokuma, looking very pleased for a stuffed bear. Chihiro, although he definitely didn’t want to praise the work of such a despicable person, had to admit that he was slightly impressed by Monokuma’s ability to fake human expressions. He wondered if that was an ability that the mastermind themself shared. “You got lucky, Sayaka! There’s not much in this room to kill people with!” The bear paused, nasty grin growing on his face. “Or maybe that’s unlucky for the girl who tried to start off the entire killing game! Ahahahahaha!”

Monokuma was really bullying Sayaka... Chihiro quickly left her to explore her lab, intending to lure the bear away from the pop star. He gestured to the other three mystery doors in the room. “Monokuma, whose labs are these?

“Those?” Monokuma swiveled and looked where Chihiro pointed, evidently forgetting Sayaka for the moment. “Ohh! Those labs belong to students who haven’t yet arrived! Remember how I told you there would be more students transferring in? Puhuhuhu!” Monokuma covered his mouth with his paws and giggled into them. “Well,” he finally continued, “the doors are locked right now, but when their owners get here, as long as they’re in one piece, I’ll open the doors to their labs!”

Chihiro mulled this over. Would he recognize any of his classmates’ labs by just looking at their doors? Well, it couldn’t hurt to take a closer look...

He approached the closest door. It was... very colorful. The background of the door was a wild, rainbow-y mess of spray paint, and on top, a white and pink guitar had been painted on. Chihiro couldn’t figure out whose lab this was. Sayaka would have been his first guess, but she clearly wasn't an option here. Nobody else in his class had a musical talent. Just to make sure Monokuma was telling the truth, Chihiro tried the doorknob, but found it to be indeed locked.

Maybe he was thinking about this the wrong way, and it was the spray paint that was important. Mondo somewhat fit the bill for that, at least... A pang shot through Chihiro’s chest as he recalled the man he’d... thought was someone worth looking up to.

...Back to the problem at hand. Monokuma had said the victims of the killing game had been placed in this building for... another chance to kill. It sickened Chihiro that somewhere out there, there were people orchestrating all this, finding amusement from their pain. Why would anyone do this?

Anyway, Mondo could have used spray paint in his time as the Ultimate Biker Game leader, that was for sure. But what about the guitar? Also, hadn’t Monokuma specified that only “spotless victims” had been saved? Mondo was... definitely a blackened.

Would he have still been a blackened if Chihiro had never asked him to train? He didn’t know, but it hurt all the same.

Chihiro stopped himself. He... couldn’t focus on that right now. He had to do what the others, what the stronger ones would have done. Investigate. So Chihiro filed all this new information away in his mind and turned, stepping in front of the next door.

This one had a very different look: a monochrome door with one black side and one white side. On each side, a full set of shiny chess pieces had been painted in the opposite color, creating a striking contrast. In the very middle of the door, there was a line of drama masks that separated the sides of the door, each one sharing the color of that side’s chess pieces. Altogether, it was nicely drawn, but a bit concerning. Not only did the lab not have an obvious owner, but the black-and-white design reminded Chihiro of Monokuma. At least the red was missing.

The design puzzled Chihiro, and eventually had to conclude that he really didn’t know whose it was. Perhaps Byakuya, because he seemed like he’d be very good at strategy games, but that didn’t explain the masks or the overly neutral theme. However, he decided that Byakuya would stay his best guess for the time being, and moved on to the last door in the room.

This door didn’t have nearly as much detail as the other three labs, which Chihiro found odd. It was simply painted lavender, with strange, dripping white splotches around the edges. He didn’t even want to take a guess based on nothing but a color and a generic design, so he turned, intending to go back to Sayaka’s lab and see if she had found anything.

Before he got there, however, Kiyotaka finally emerged from the men’s bathroom and marched over to Chihiro, looking much healthier than he had before. Chihiro didn’t think too much about it, and simply greeted him instead. “Hello Kiyotaka...”

“Good morning, Chihiro!” replied Kiyotaka with incredible energy. “What are all these strangely colored doors?”

Chihiro explained what Monokuma had told them about the Ultimate Labs. "I wonder where my lab is!" exclaimed Kiyotaka. “Anything that helps me as the Ultimate Moral Compass will surely be beneficial to us all!”

"I'm sure it's somewhere..." Chihiro glanced at the ladder. "That ladder seems to go both up and down, so I'm sure there are many more floors to this place."

Kiyotaka looked up at the top of the ladder, brows furrowed. "However, the top of the ladder is blocked by glass! How will we ascend it?"

Chihiro followed Kiyotaka's gaze up to the translucent green glass, separating this floor from the one above. Then, he spotted it. A big green button on the ceiling, close enough to reach comfortably from the ladder. "A button! That's probably how you open it."

Kiyotaka folded his arms and exclaimed, "Well, it's my duty to either prove or disprove that theory!" He marched up the ladder. (Chihiro hadn't known it was possible to march up a ladder...) Kiyotaka pressed the green button, and the glass above his head slid to the side, creating an opening that, by Chihiro's uneducated guess, was about five feet around.

Chihiro stepped closer to the ladder and gazed up into the next floor. "What's up there...?"

"I will inspect the area for any dangerous items or traps!" Without waiting for a response, Kiyotaka ascended the ladder quickly, climbed up into the room above, and disappeared. Chihiro waited, trying not to worry about it. Logically, there was no reason for their surroundings to be dangerous. Still, he was relieved when Kiyotaka appeared at the top of the ladder, squatted down, and announced to Chihiro, "It's safe! You may come up and look around! It looks like this area is our new dormitory!" He disappeared again, and Chihiro heard a door open and close.

Timidly, Chihiro walked up and grasped the first rung of the ladder. He was surprised at how cold it was. Slowly, he put his foot on the ladder, then hauled himself upwards. It wasn't as difficult as he had feared. After all, he hadn't climbed a single ladder in his life. But, conversely, he was also disappointed by how much energy that simple action sapped out of him. He really hoped this place had a gym where he could exercise frequently. As he climbed the ladder, though, he felt as though he was already going through a strenuous workout routine. By the time Chihiro reached the top, his arms were aching. He stepped off the ladder and caught his breath, feeling a bit frustrated. But, he needed to focus on investigating, not thinking about himself, so he needed to focus.

Quickly, Chihiro looked around the circular room. It seemed a bit bigger than the room downstairs, and it had doors all around, spaced about two feet apart. Most of the doors were blank, but there were little portraits on four of the doors, of himself, Kiyotaka, Sakura, and Sayaka. The pictures looked similar to the ones in Hope's Peak's dormitory, but they had become even more stylized.

Chihiro went to the door with his face on it and tried the knob. It opened smoothly for him, revealing a plain, but nice-looking room. He stepped inside. Much like his old room, it had a bed, a dresser, a table, and an attached bathroom. Chihiro noted his room key on the table and took it. There was also a small closet to the side of his bed, and a cushioned chair sitting by the table. Chihiro briefly looked around the room, feeling the softness of the bed (it would be really nice when nighttime came around), checking out the bathroom, and opening the dresser drawers. Finally, he opened the closet to see what was inside, and saw something truly glorious.

Pants.

...It was rather silly to get excited over something like that, Chihiro chided himself. But he hadn't been able to wear pants in public for as long as he could remember, and now that his secret was out, there was no need to keep wearing a skirt. Not that skirts were all that bad, but he didn't really like the feeling of his legs rubbing against each other all the time. Also, the part that wasn't covered by his socks tended to get cold.

Chihiro took a pair of pants and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door and quickly changing into them. He looked at himself in the mirror, somewhat wide-eyed. Hesitantly, he reached behind his head and pulled his hair back into a small, fluffy ponytail, perusing his new look carefully.

He... he looked like a normal boy! Of course, he was still too scrawny and weak... but this was an improvement! Decisively, Chihiro untied the green ribbon from his uniform's collar and used it to tie his hair back from his face. He turned around and looked back at the mirror, making sure he had tied it correctly. Hair that was tied in a bow wasn't very manly... Chihiro would have to find a rubber band or hair elastic at some point. Still, from the front... He turned back around and looked at himself again. Yep! He looked like a boy! Inexplicably, he smiled at his reflection.

...He hadn't done that in a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to handle Chihiro's crossdressing as accurately as I could. I believe that he genuinely wants to be a boy, and he was simply bullied into presenting as a girl, so he'd be a lot happier looking like the person he truly is. This fic is focused on a killing game, so it will be dark in many places, but I also want to include some genuinely hopeful and uplifting moments.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudos if you enjoyed!


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